Asheville, NC, BRP to Cherokee and Seymour

It's been a rather messy week with the weather and trying to do home chores too but at the end of the five day work week, Saturday came through with flying colors.  Rain possibility, 25 to 35%, give or take.  Made arrangements to join a riding group for a day's ride leaving Kodak, TN, Exit 407 at 8:00 a.m. sharp.  So at 6:30 I hopped out of bed, let's get real, I rolled out of bed, got dressed, fed the dog and donned my riding gear for what I hoped to be an exciting day in the saddle with some people I know and some new people to meet.  Country Roads Group Riding led by Dan Harvey was going to make my day. 

So on this Saturday, Aug. 6, 2016 at 7:00 a.m. I pushed Red Bug out of the garage and fired him off heading to Exit 407 early enough to grab a biscuit and a cup of coffee before kick stands up time.  Temp. was 67 Degrees F.  A tad bit of fog mostly over the land but just right to ride.

Boyds Crk. Highway just outside of my subdivision a couple of minutes after 7 this morning.

The building on the right is one of my favorites, Seven Islands School in the early morning light.

Heading up Dumpling Valley Rd. after leaving our meet-up at McDs.

Bridge near Dandridge, TN over a part of Douglas Lake.

Our first break.  Total of 15 bikes with several of them riding two up.  Dan's is the yellow and black HD in front.  Some of the riders I had met before and some were new to me.  Great group of folks that just enjoy riding motorcycles, and laughing, and kidding around, and eating.  I think that just about wraps it up.

Morning mist hanging in the air and in some places concealing the valley between the mountains.

The railroad to somewhere.  A major transportation route prior to interstate highways and other roadways.

One of the newer bridges of the area and off behind it the morning mist hangs above the river.

The morning mist coming into Hot Springs, NC.  Makes for an eerie sight.












Riding highways like NC 209 makes a day just ease along.

Hard to see here but it's a string of motorcycles heading up that hill with more behind the photographer, that be me.

We dined at one of the largest and best Oriental Restaurants I've ever been in.  Yao's had just about any type oriental food you'd like including fresh made sushi and some very tasty deserts.  Private rooms helped to keep us from the other patrons, not that we were rude or anything, just didn't want to them to see how many trips some people made to the buffet tables.

Winding our way up the mountain to get to the Blue Ridge Parkway, several two of us got behind the fellow in the pickup that was trying to see just how little diesel he would burn before he got to the top.  His top speed twice was 22mph.  Mostly around 18mph.

Then we get to the BRP and head south toward Cherokee, NC where the southern end is located.  This is just one of many tunnels along the BRP all all have names.

Things must be going to get better for I see the light at the end of the tunnel.

Weather was perfect.  Nice and cool in the mountains, cool with an early morning start and only later in the day did we run into a short sprinkle not worthy of getting into rain gear.

A short break on the BRP.

An assortment of colors to match an assortment of characters.

Red Bug sporting his new saddlebags and if you look real hard you can see the chrome highway pegs added a couple of days ago.

Just one of the thousands of scenic views along the BRP.












Billowing white puffy clouds starting to turn a tad bit dark toward the West.

What was I saying about those white puffy clouds?  Well, it started changing depending on which direction you were looking.

And in this direction you cold see pretty yellow wildflowers.

And if you looked in the other direction you could see dark heavy storm clouds.

And a bit farther we could see wildflowers and a tinge of dark clouds.  I think we're going to get damp.

Yep, at the highest point on the Blue Ridge Parkway, I'd say we were definitely going to get damp.

But it looks so clear where we are, now.

And we did get a bit damp but 30 mins. later, we were dry.  Turn after turn, climb after climb and down the many hills, this was a good day to ride.  All of the roads were good, changing scenery, good folks to chat and ride with and all total, 261 miles for me door to door.  Left at 7, arrived back at the house at 5.  Thanks Dan Harvey and your CRGR bunch for an enjoyable day of riding.